Salisbury, CT. -- He's 85 years old but Rod Aller's knees are still holding up, well enough, in fact to keep him schussing and
twisting at high speed down slalom ski courses. So well, in fact, that he won four
gold medals at an international ski event in March in Abetone, Italy, beating champions
from around the world.

The 14th World Masters Criterium was held
in the Italian Apennines and was attended by 538 racers from 16 countries, with the
heaviest attendance from Italy and Austria. And though many of those Italian racers
had been down the Abertone courses before and were familiar with the texture of the local
snow, Mr. Aller was the overall champ in his division at the races, winning all four of
the events offered.

There were only about nine other racers in
his over-80 division, he said. But being one of the last remaining competitive
skiers in one's age group is something of a prize in and of itself.

Others on the American team were Duffy
Dodge, Dewey Davidson and Anne Nordhoy. Together, they collected nine gold, two
silver and one bronze medal.

Mr. Aller, an attorney in Lakeville
was quite casual about his triumph in Europe, which is not surprising when one sees the
sizeable cache of beribboned metal discs, crystal statuettes and engraved trophies on
various hooks and surfaces in his office.

He keeps them at work now, he sighs,
because his wife, Anne, insisted he get them out of the house. There are so darn many of
them, they were taking up too much room.

Mr. Aller also dominated the American
Masters races in his division in
New England this winter, a task he waves off easily.

"I only went to six of the races in
his division in January, and I won them all," he said. "But I was tied for
the overall winner in my class with Adelbert "Del" Ames, because he went to more
races than I did."

While it may sound like he's an awfully
confident fellow, in fact Mr. Aller is quite charming and humble about his
accomplishments. It helps that when he describes his life on the slopes he does it
in a captivating silky baritone with a Southwestern-sounding draw. He spent his
childhood in Arizona but his mother, Catherine Goddard Aller, was a Salisbury native and
she brought her family back to the Northwest Corner in 1934.

Mr. Aller attended The Hotchkiss School and then headed off to
Princeton, where he helped found the
college's first ski team. Competing in intercollegiate events, they couldn't beat
the powerhouse Dartmouth team but they managed to defeat the teams from Yale, Cornell and
Brown.

After college, Yale law school and World
War II, Mr. Aller settled once and for all in Lakeville setting up his legal practice and
also becoming president of the Salisbury
Winter Sports Association.

"There were no jumps at that time
because the tower had fallen into decay and collapsed during the war," he
recalled. "We put the tower together and started the jumps again in about
1948."

As most Salisbury resident know, ski
jumping has changed radically over the years. The senior skiers still keep
their feet parallel as they lift off the slopes, while younger competitors create a
distinctive v-shape with their legs. And while downhill skiing techniques haven't
changed much since Mr. Aller's youth, the equipment has changed quite a bit. Skis
are shorter now and have a different shape, for example.

"When I first started, skis didn't
even have edges [to allow skiers to dig into the slopes for better control]," he
recalled.

And boots weren't cinched onto the skis
back then, leaving heels free. Anyone who has tried to make it downhill in a pair of
cross-country skis, or has tried the new telemark skis, can imagine how challenging it
must have been to ski back then.

It was those championship Dartmouth skiers
who introduced many Americans (especially the fledgling Princeton skiers) to advances in
gear.

"The boys at Dartmouth got edges and
bindings first and the next year we got them," Mr. Aller recalled. "We
could see the advantages of the new equipment. They keep improving boots, bindings,
skis. They're all better now than they were five or 10 years ago."

There certainly are things in the world
that get better with age. Ski equipment, for instance. And athletes like Mr.
Aller, who look to men like local legend Ole Hegge and cross-country champion "Jack Rabbit" Johannsen who kept going until he was 112 years old.

"Men like that make you feel like you
don't have to quit at 85," he said.